Gail Langer Karwoski

If you want to survive during the rough times as a writer
(like when you get a rejection), make some writer-friends! . . . .
They'll understand your frustrations, suggest helpful options, and tell you how to
improve your work. How? Start a "critique group" (my crit group is pictured above),
join a writers' organization, go to a writers' conference.

Children's publishing is big business these days - complicated and competitive. I don't think many (any?) stories are
"discovered overnight."
To get published, you'll need to be determined. You’ll need to become savvy about the business and serious about your craft.
There are college courses and conferences for writers that will help you learn craft, as well as how-to books,
but of course the best way to improve your writing is by writing every day and by reading quality stories for children.

You can learn about conferences and workshops by joining the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).
This organization is worth every cent of its membership. (I connected with all three of my publishers through SCBWI.)
- Through its newsletter and e-updates, you'll learn who's publishing what, which editor is open to new writers, etc.
- Through its publications, you can learn about how to make your manuscript look "professional."
- Through its conferences - regional and national - you'll meet others entering the business who can share info, answer your
questions, and critique your work.

Contact:

Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
8271 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
phone: 323-782-1010
www.scbwi.org

If you live in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, or the Florida panhandle,
contact Southern Breeze, the regional branch of SCBWI. It publishes a newsletter and presents a fall conference, spring event, and swap shops.

Southern Breeze
P.O. Box 26282
Hoover, AL 35260
http://www.southern-breeze.org

For an excellent "textbook" on writing and publishing for kids, get a copy of Harold Underdown's book in the "Idiot" series,
called The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books

This book is like an introductory college course: How to Write & Publish Children’s Books 101.
It will help you learn the basics, such as the different genres within children's writing.
(Harold also has a wonderful writer's website: www.purplecrayon.com )

Already mastered the “basics”? Now you’re ready for an “advanced” writing course... Check out this ‘writing retreat’ between the covers of a workbook:

Or, better yet, why not enroll in one of Darcy’s workshops and let her guide you through her workbook? (I did. What an intensive experience! I learned so much, plus I had lots of fun.) Check out her workshop schedule on her website: http://www.darcypattison.com/

Where can you find publishers for your work?
Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (published annually by Writer's Digest Books)

This is the basic guide for children's writers. It costs around $20, and it's also available in the reference area of libraries.
It contains:
- List of publishers of books, magazines, religious, and educational materials
- Separate section on markets especially for student writers
- Info about how to contact publishers and types of manuscripts they publish
- List of agents and art reps
- List of contests
- Articles about the nuts and bolts of writing and marketing (how to write a cover letter, etc.)
- Interviews with editors, agents, writers, illustrators (people who've been there and done it)

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